Alan Rollinson

Alan Rollinson began racing in Formula Junior in 1962 and he won the opening round of the following year’s British Championship at Oulton Park with a Cooper T59-Ford, albeit against a meagre seven-car field.

Grand Prix frustrations

Third in a Formule Libre race at Silverstone in 1964 and still very much an up-and-coming talent, Rollinson entered the 1965 British Grand Prix with Bob Gerard’s Cooper T71/73-Ford. He did not qualify and Rollinson was sidelined at the start of the following season when he injured an eye while trying to fasten the awning over his Formula 2 Brabham. He returned to Formula 3 and won the top Grovewood Award in 1967 after a strong season with a Brabham-Ford.

That led to a works Chevron F3 drive with Red Rose Racing for 1968 but it was a disappointing campaign. Left without backing for the following year, he bought a Brabham BT21 from Frank Lythgoe which he ran himself in the 1969 British F3 Championships – winning a succession of races and finishing as runner-up behind Emerson Fittipaldi in the Lombank series.

Non-championship Formula 1

A Formula 1 test for Lotus followed as part of his prize and he made a couple of non-championship F1 appearances in 1971 with a Siffert March 701-Ford and works Surtees TS7-Ford. However, he never returned to the world championship and Rollinson instead raced for Alan McKechnie in the European Formula 5000 series.

Rollinson quit the sport at the end of 1973 although he made a short-lived return in the 1983 British Thundersports Championship. He retired for good at the end of the following year.